United Church of Northern India – Presbyterian Synod
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The United Church of Northern India (UCNI) is a mainline
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
Church society in India belonging to the
Protestant Christian Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
denomination. The UCNI was constituted by the union of the Presbyterian Church and Congregational churches in 1924. Since then Congregational churches have been admitted to membership by the Church Courts competent to admit them. UCNI administers its affairs through local churches, Church councils, synods and a General Assembly. The registration numbers used are approved by the UCNI.


History

At a joint conference held in 1918 in
Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...
, several churches proposed unifying Presbyterian and Congregational churches. This led to the founding of the United Church of Northern India on 30 December 1924, at Wilson College,
Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
. This first meeting included the church moderators Rev. Dr. C.A.R. Janwheeler, Rev. Ram Krishan Shahu and Rev. Dr. Robert Allen Hume; Hume was elected as the first moderator of UCNI. The UCNI is located in the North-West and North-East India. It also operates in
Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
, Eastern Hills of
Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal, ...
,
Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
,
Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...
,
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...
,
Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
and
Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...
, covering about one third of India. UCNI has its own constitution, the "Blue Book", which covers rules for the conduct of work, the confession of faith, and rules for the administration in the UCNI. The organization was established with an evangelical, medical, and educational outlook. In the 18th and 19th centuries missionaries came to India from the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
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England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, and Australia. In Northern India there were the following missions: *American Evangelical and Reformed Church *American Marathi Mission of the American Board of Commission of Foreign Missions *
American Presbyterian Mission Presbyterian Mission Agency is the ministry and mission agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Founded as the Western Foreign Missionary Society by the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America in 1837, it was involved in sending w ...
*Canada Presbyterian Mission *
Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...
Mission *Irish Presbyterian Mission * London Missionary Society *
English Presbyterian Mission English Presbyterian Mission was a British Presbyterian missionary society that was involved in sending workers to countries such as China during the late Qing Dynasty. English Presbyterian Mission work in China The Presbyterian Church of England r ...
*New Zealand Presbyterian Mission *
United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (french: link=no, Église unie du Canada) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholi ...
Mission *Wales Presbyterian Mission.


Organization

In 1970, some of these churches joined the newly constituted
Church of Northern India The Church of North India (CNI) is the dominant united Protestant church in northern India. It was established on 29 November 1970 by bringing together the Protestant churches working in northern India. It is a province of the worldwide Anglic ...
(CNI), which was constituted mainly to unify Anglican churches, but some have since returned to UCNI. Today, the UCNI has eighteen church councils under five Synods. They are: North India Synod, Mid-India Synod, West Bengal Synod, Maharashtra Synod, and Punjab Synod; this includes the cities of
Ahmednagar Ahmednagar (), is a city located in the Ahmednagar district in the state of Maharashtra, India, about 120 km northeast of Pune and 114 km from Aurangabad. Ahmednagar takes its name from Ahmad Nizam Shah I, who founded the town in 1494 ...
,
Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
,
Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...
,
Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarter of the Kolhapur district. In, around 2 C.E. Kolapur's name was 'Kuntal'. Kolhapur is kn ...
,
Malwa Malwa is a historical region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic upland north of the Vindhya Range. Politically and administratively, it is also syno ...
Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...
,
Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
,
Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...
, Farrukhabad, Mainpuri,
Bundelkhand Bundelkhand (, ) is a geographical and cultural region and a proposed state and also a mountain range in central & North India. The hilly region is now divided between the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, with the larger portion lyin ...
,
Garhwal Garhwal may refer to the following topics associated with Uttarakhand, India: Places *Garhwal Himalaya, a sub-range of the Himalayas *Garhwal Kingdom, a former kingdom * Garhwal District (British Garhwal), a former district of British India *Gar ...
, Kumaon, Gurdaspur,
Ambala Ambala () is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border with the Indian state of Punjab and in proximity to both states capital Chandigarh. Politically, Ambala has two sub-area ...
,
Ludhiana Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 Indian census, 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the ...
, Doaba, as well as the Eastern Himalayan Church Council. The United Church of Northern India was registered in Firms and Societies (Punjab) in the years 1977–78. The supreme body of the Trust is the United Church of Northern India. The United Church of Northern India is the founding organization of the General Assembly and Trust Association. The General Assembly and the Trust Association are therefore the agent body of the United Church of Northern India and have an international jurisdiction. *Ahmednagar church council – 17 churches *Bombay church council – 7 churches *Nagpur church council – 4 churches *Kolhapur church council – 60 churches plus 140 house fellowships *Malwa church council – 3 churches *Rajasthan church council – 2 churches *Gujarat church council – 2 churches *Allahabad church council – 3 churches *Farrukhabad church council – 3 churches *Mainpuri church council – 4 churches *Garhwal church council – 2 churches *Kumaon church council – 2 churches *Bundelkhand church council – 3 churches *Gurdaspur church council – 3 churches *Ambala church council – 2 churches *Ludhiana church council – 5 churches *Doaba church council – 4 churches *Eastern Himalayan Church Council – this is among the oldest denominations in India and is a mature self-supporting church with more than 105 churches and 23 house fellowships and in 10 years doubled its communicant membership. As per the census report presented in the EHCC Annual General Assembly held on 27–28 April 2016 in
Kalimpong Kalimpong (Hindi: कलिम्पोंग) is a town and the headquarters of an eponymous district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located at an average elevation of . The town is the headquarters of the Kalimpong district. The re ...
,
West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
, the total number of members was 11,837.


United Church of Northern India Trust Association

The UCNI Trust Association is Registered under Companies Act (Regd. No. 2912/1938-39) Bombay Public Trust Act (Regd. No. D-97/1955).


Legal case

In 2013, the
Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...
gave a verdict against the CNI and in favour of the First District Church of Brethren of Gujarat. It was titled ''Civil Appeal No: 8800–8801 of the 2013 [Arising out of Special Leave Petition (Civil: Nos: 16575–16576 of 2012) with regard to the properties and assets of United Church of Northern India (UCNI) / United Church of Northern India Trust Association (UCNITA)/ COEMAR, etc.]'': "The judgment is announced on 30 September 2013 in a case entitled Vinodkumar M. Malavia, etc. Appellants Vs. Maganlal Mangaldas Gameti and Ors. Respondents by Honourable Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghosh and Justice Surinder Singh Nijjar." In the judgment, the Court dismissed the assertions of the CNI which had claimed that it had come into existence following the merger of six churches and uphold the order of the
High Court of Gujarat The Gujarat High Court is the High Court of the state of Gujarat. It was established on 1 May 1960 under the ''Bombay Re-organisation Act, 1960'' after the state of Gujarat split from Bombay State. The seat of the court is Ahmedabad. The pre ...
. The high court had observed that "The Trust which has been created as a Public Trust for a specific object and the charitable or the religious nature or for the bonafides of the society or any such institution managed by such trusts for charitable and religious purpose, shall continue to exist in perpetuity, and it would not cease to exist by any such process of thinking or deliberation or the Resolution which does not have any force of law."


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:United Church of Northern India - Presbyterian Synod Church organization Churches in India Presbyterian churches in India 1924 establishments in India Christian denominations established in the 20th century Protestantism in India Christian organizations established in 1924